This is going to be a few other thoughts that I wanted to share, not particularly organized, sorry.
I know I personally have had kreg jigs for a long while, so I wondered just when they first came out, how about 34 years ago! I've not had mine that long and I can't even tell you when it was that I got my last one. I will say I'm glad I have them and have gotten some good use out of them.
In recent years there have been a few more companies making pocket hole jigs, I don't own any of them and can not speak to how well they work but doubt any are really better. A recent review I read still found the Kreg the best.
I'm pretty happy with the collection that I have and the only reason I might go out and buy another one would be if there were a compelling reason to do so and so far I have found nothing to warrant it.
The only disadvantage of the one that I have is the lever being behind the work piece. On short parts or taller parts that aren't too long having the lever there is no issue. If however you try to do a part where you can no longer reach the lever from the front then it is an issue. In this photo it is still not a problem but if the piece were longer....
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Now I mounted my jig on a plywood platform and added some mini track to both sides. Doing so allowed me to put these material support stops in place. I don't do much longer work so this size works well for me but if you were doing larger projects all the time then a longer base might be in order. These material supports make sure the holes are being drill vertical to the work piece. They also can be set up as stops to locate sets of holes the same over many work pieces. A nice addition.
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I also wanted to mention a little extra that I have found useful. You don't have to just depend on the pocket hole for all of the joints strength. Like anything else there are many ways to do things. One that I have posted here before at some point is a joint like this:
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The dado needs to be shallow so you still have room for the pocket screws but you gain the dado which supports more weight and keeps any twisting motion of the horizontal member to a minimum.
Another thing I picked up from Norm is the use of biscuits for alignment and then using pockets for more holding force. I have used that a number of times and it really does work. I think I've posted that as well but who knows where anymore.
No one is going to say I think I'll use pocket screws because they look like such attractive joints. There are far better looking ways of doing things. Like wise I don't think most people thing that these are by far the strongest joints I can use and then use them.
As a wood worker you have to make choices all the time. This is another choice. Depending on the project they make since or they don't. If you use them and they fail then it is as likely a bad choice of either the design or the choice of the pocket joints. I have not had any failures so maybe I'm lucky or maybe it skill. If you do a face frame for a cabinet and worry that these will not be strong enough then better look at your design as I'm pretty sure the pocket screws will do the job.
As for testing. Anyone can post to the internet. It doesn't mean they are right or wrong or tricking you or have an addenda or do they? You have the wood, you have the tools do your own testing if you are worried, that way if it works you can feel confident, if it does fail then it time to look at what you did and see if you made a mistake or like most people move on to another way.
Back when I started wood working there were all the old tried a true joints past on for perhaps 100's of years and yes they worked. Problem was for hobbyist we did not have time to perfect the woodworking and have the time to actually do the work, well most of us anyway. Likewise home shops don't always have the best tools for the job.
Things like the shopsmith were "invented" as were a lot of other tools we now take for granted. I worked in our home shop for some years before moving out to spend some time in the service and school and lived in apartments where a hand drill and jig saw were about it for power tools and the hand tools I had fit in a small tool box. When I got a job and had room to expand I was drawn to the tools of the day and the techniques of the day, yes a lot of hand tools.
I remember when I first got a doweling jig. Got the dowel drill bit and wow I could do decent dowel joints, sort of. Now the jigs at that time are nothing like the ones you can get now, a lot more primitive. Lots of time spent in layout, more time to make sure the jig was where it should be, the drill was set up to get the depth right, and above all the holes were vertical since the bushing had to be flat to the surface and not move when drilling. Then came testing the joints, you had hole to hole spacing in each part, and then assembly spacing and was the one hole too short??? Test fitting could be trying times. Worst yet when you added the glue you might end up splitting the wood because of hydraulic pressure of the glue in the joint. Oh yea it was fun using a pliers on a dowel to make grooves for the glue to escape....
So when I first saw the biscuit jointer I knew I had to have one. I actually hated my doweling jig so bad I sold it at a garage sale and I don't sell tools.... I still use the biscuits and of course pocket holes but no dowel joints. I do sometimes think about getting a nice doweling jig but it hasn't happened yet. I also think about the festool domino and it would be more likely I'd get that then a doweling jig..... I know I should be more into dowels but I'm not.
Don't be afraid to do your own testing, most of the time that is the only way you will really get answers to your specific questions. Do go out and get some pocket hole jig and give it a try, the water is fine. I'm sure you will find some uses for it even if it is not the one you got it for.
This spring I will have been using power tools for 61 years and wood working for 65 and I'm still learning and experimenting and testing things our. No one is ever going to have all the answers and the questions keep changing and so is the adventure.
Ed